Creator of Yoon-Suin and other materials. Propounding my half-baked ideas on role playing games. Jotting down and elaborating on ideas for campaigns, missions and adventures. Talking about general industry-related matters. Putting a new twist on gaming.

Friday, 2 February 2018

Animal Spirits

An entry from a random encounter table from my current work in progress, which is getting closer to completion:

Animal Spirit

An
animal demigod, ruler of all of its kind who live in the region; a powerful
elemental of nature who embodies the perfect specimen of its race and is imbued
with the magic of the forest. Roll 1d6 to determine its type:

1 – Wolf.
An impossibly large wolf with black and white fur, accompanied by a pack of
seven followers. They appear out of the trees like ghosts, heralded by their
howls.

HD 6, AC 16, AB +7, Attacks 1 (bite,
1d6+2), Move 180

Always acts first as though winning a surprise round despite forewarning of howls.

3 – Boar.
An instantiation of brute aggression: hard muscles, yellow tusks and eyes which
smoulder like hot coals. He is accompanied everywhere by his harem of six
females and their dozen non-combatant young.

4 –
Tanuki. The famous trickster of the mountains who delights in tormenting and
befuddling the humans who enter his realm. He is rarely seen or directly
encountered, but sometimes he can he heard drumming his own belly with his
forepaws under the light of a full moon.

HD 5, AB
+5, Attacks 1 (bite 1d4), Move 180

Can summon an encounter at will;
if the Tanuki Spirit activates this power, roll another random encounter, which
surprises the PCs automatically.

5 –
Monkey. The malicious, lazy and cowardly lord of the macaques, who enjoys
nothing more than to demonstrate his self-proclaimed superiority over lowly
humans. He has with him five male underlings and two dozen non-combatant
females and young.

HD 5, AB
+6, Attacks 1 (bite 1d6+2), Move 180

Can, once per day, strike
somebody dumb, blind or deaf (once each) by touch – a condition which lasts for the
duration of that day.

Animal
spirits can speak with human beings and will respond favourably to supplication
or humble requests for access to their lands; the more hostile the reaction
dice roll, the more likely this is to be demanded by force. In return for allowing
the PCs to remain, the animal spirit will demand a service of some kind. This
will be (roll a d4 or choose as appropriate):

1 –
Removing the Russian interlopers

2 – Removing the hornet spirit

3 –
Removing Zenkō and his servants

4 –
Helping achieve vengeance against local hunters (from the nearest village geographically)